The sixth War Art Exhibition of the War Artists Corps, Leaflet, 1953. MMCA Art Research Center Collection
War Artists Corps
* Source: Multilingual Glossary of Korean Art. Korea Arts Management Service
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War Documentation Art Exhibition
War Documentation Art Exhibition was the third exhibition of the war correspondent painters, who were part of the Ministry of Defense during the Korean War. It was held from September 28 to October 4, 1951 at the former diplomatic club building in the provisional wartime capital of Busan. During the Korean War, many artists served in the army, navy, and air force as war painters or in the art troupes, and the central organization for these artists was the Ministry of National Defense’s military painters’ group. Established on June 25 in 1951, the War Artist Corps, belonging to the Ministry of National Defense, had about 40 members, with Lee Madong as the director, Kim Byungki as the vice director, and Lee Seduk as the secretary. During the Korean War, the War Artist Corps held more than ten exhibitions. The group had previously existed under various names and affiliations but was officially established in June 1951 and took over the name of the former military War Artist Corps. Their first exhibition was held in March 1951 at the Daegu Public Information Service and featured many frontline sketches and portraits of generals, which were mostly props. Unlike the second exhibition in June 1951, which was a small-scale exhibition, the third exhibition, War Documentation Art Exhibition, was a full-scale exhibition held by the War Artist Corps as it was officially established in Daegu. By holding the exhibition alongside an official military event, the group revealed its presence. On September 28, 1951, the first joint memorial service for fallen soldiers of the army, navy, and air force was held at the Infantry School in Dongnae, Busan, and September 28 was also “the First Seoul Recapture Day." The War Painters Group is an organization of the Korean Armed Forces that took part in the commemoration of the day when the Incheon Landing Operation stopped North Korea's advance and restored Seoul. They played their part by holding an exhibition, and more than a hundred of their sketches documenting the war were on display.
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Korean Heritage Painting
National Documentary Painting refers to the historical paintings produced between 1967 and 1979 that were created with the intention to help educate people around the nation. The term was officially introduced in The National Documentary Painting Exhibition. This exhibition was held at Gyeongbokgung Museum from July 12th, 1967 to September 31st as a part of a national award ceremony to celebrate the May 16th assumption of government by General Park Chung-hee’s Military Committee. Numerous artists from the Korean National Art Exhibition contributed to the production of 700 large-format works, painted in a realist manner, under the direction of the Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Education. The modern history paintings were based on documentary photographs and fieldwork, while the pre-modern history paintings were based on historical research. Between 1967 and 1973 the documentary painting project primarily dealt with topics like anti-Japanese colonial resistance, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, all subjects selected to help engender patriotic anti-communist sentiment among viewers. Then, after 1973, the project was extended to cover pre-modern history, with a focus on encouraging the depiction of great military commanders in battle. In addition, artists were also encouraged to portray the economic accomplishments of the 1960s and 1970s, including the creation of the industrial complex, highway construction, and the New Community Movement (Saemaeul undong).
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Kim Byungki
Kim Byungki (1916-2022) was one of the first-generation Korean abstract artists. He was born in Pyongyang as the second son of Kim Chanyoung, who graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. He associated with Kim Whanki at the Avant-garde Western Art Institute in Tokyo in 1933, and in 1939 he studied at the Art Department of Bunka School in Tokyo together with Lee Jungseop and Mun Haksu. After his return to Korea, he served as a secretary of the Korean Art Alliance (Joseon misul dongmaeng) in Pyongyang and then moved to Seoul in 1948. Kim Byungki established the 1950 Art Association (Osimnyeon misul hyeophoe) under the Korean Culture Research Institute in 1949 and, as its secretary-general, tried to unite established artists, but due to the outbreak of the Korean War, it never held exhibitions. During the war, he worked as a deputy director of the military painter group. In 1954, he participated in the Special Exhibition on Modern Korean Painting at the National Museum. After reading an article in The Times related to Pablo Picasso’s painting Massacre in Korea (1951), Kim published “Farewell to Picasso” in the first issue of Munhak yesul (Literature and Art) in 1954. He also devoted himself to art practice, art education, and art theory by teaching at Seoul National University, Seoul Arts High School, and the Institute of Contemporary Art and participating in the first Contemporary Art Exhibit hosted by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper company. He was commissioner of the Paris Biennale in 1961. In 1965, as the board president of Korean Fine Arts Association, he worked as commissioner and judge of the São Paulo Biennale. At the time, he moved to the U.S. and settled in Saratoga, New York, where he absorbed himself in creating artworks for twenty years until he returned home. In 1986, he held a solo exhibition at the Gana Gallery in Seoul. In 1989 he returned to the U.S. and Kim returned to South Korea permanently in 2014 for the MMCA’s exhibition Kim Byungki: The Distribution of Sensible. In 2022, he passed away at the age of 106. Among his notable works are Street Trees (1947), Still Life by Window (1954), Mountain (1967), Forest and Still Life (1987), and Winter Scene (2000).
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Wolnam Artists Association
An artists’ group formed in Busan between June and August in 1952 by wolnam (North Korean defector) artists who fled from North Korea to the South during the Korean War. The membership comprised of artists based in Daegu, including Yoon Jungsik, Hwang Yooyup, Kim Hyungkoo, and Park Sunghwan; and artists who were based in Busan, including: Chung Kyu, Lee Jungseop, Chang Reesok, Park Kosuk, and Han Mook. Their works were featured in the wolnam artists exhibition in June, hosted at the USIS in Daegu and organized by the North Korean Branch of the Federation of Artistic & Cultural Organization of Korea. It was included in the North Korean refugee artists exhibition in November, held at the Busan International Club. The organization was unlike a Jonggunhwagadan (military artists programme) as the members were basically refugees who had left their homes behind to escape the war. Yet in his accounts, Lee Jungsop described himself as a jonggunhwaga (military artist), so the organization itself was different in character from his social status.
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